Hello and welcome friends and future players to Terranea! In case you don't already know, this is Taylor, a.k.a. the Dungeon Master and the mysterious unseen force setting events in motion on the continent of Terranea.

First, allow me to explain how I am envisioning this to work. My goal is to develop some sort of system that combines the rules and systems of traditional tabletop RPGs with the convenience and freeform feel of online roleplaying. I've developed a modified and simplified system of character creation because ideally you'll be playing multiple characters doing multiple things - your involvement in the world can be as significant or minute as you want. Eventually, there will be multiple scenarios running simultaneously, all having their own impact on the world. As players and people, you can just as easily influence the state of things - I've only fleshed out so far in the future, as the entire political environment could be gone within a year (in-game) if player actions somehow evolve into that.

How this will all work then is, for each scenario or campaign, I will make an initial post. This is where you will develop your characters for that scenario. Some scenarios may directly follow and be impacted based on previous ones, and depending on the circumstance, you'll want to play a character from the previous one. Others might work with a previous character, but you probably won't have someone who made a distinction in snuffing out an anarchy group up north also serve with a band of pirates along the desert coast.

The base systems will probably change as the world progresses and I learn what does and doesn't work - so feel free to take liberties with combat and everything. The important thing to know is how I plan to determine ability checks and run the more minute aspects of everything. We will be using the comment system on reddit to determine how things play out. What will happen is, each comment I make - whether a top level or reply - will ideally serve as the start of a "turn." Players can then respond to that comment with their actions in response. Sometimes people will act together in a scenario, sometimes everyone will be doing different things. For each "scene," I will make a new top level comment for that. If your party began combat, I would make a top level comment about that specific encounter. However, if your party split up in a town, each individual or group that split off would get their own comment. This will probably make more sense in practice...

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Without further ado, enjoy some backstory on the State of the World:

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Thousands of years after the fall of the “Terranean Empire,” civilization slowly formed again as wandering bands of nomads grew tired of roving through the ruins of the once great world. With barely any knowledge of the past and no common languages, nearly all the technology is lost. Nearly.

The destruction of the Terranean Empire is something that many scholars still puzzle over. No clear picture is painted by the ruins. Some of them seem to have been incinerated, leaving very little, if any structures, left. Others have been converted into towns, littered all over the continent. Further still, some have yet to be explored thoroughly, due to present dangers – traps, ancient guards, hostile conditions.

Not even a hundred years after the first of the nomadic tribes settled down, the defenses of Baras-Ur were taken down by the largest army the continent had seen in millennia. The defeat of the Simulcri army at Baras-Ur prompted their retreats away from many of the ruins, opening up dozens of sites to use as settlements across the world. Yet, though they drove the Simulcri away from Baras-Ur, the army was not able to enter the inner city, as it was surrounded by a steel dome, thicker than any tools they had could easily break. After ten years of research and examination, Wyrd Council scholars found an ancient, metal cavern leading into the inner city. When they reached the inside of the inner city, the top of the dome opened back into the sides of the wall, and the gates to the inner city opened.

Within the inner city they found a decent amount of buildings still structurally sound. However, they were all nearly empty, save for a few buildings that housed thousands upon thousands of small, black squares. When touched for the first time, the squares would enter into the skin and spread through the body, granting the wielder powers that could only be described as magical. The scholars called them Ur, the people called it magic.

This is where you come in. It has been 25 years since the inner city was breached and Ur was discovered, introducing magic to the world again. Peace has lasted for now, but alliances are shaky and imbalances have occur in power. Vontali Kaell, while militarily minded, is not the uniter his predecessor, and his control of council members has slipped. Rivehill has amassed an imposing military force, under the guise of protection, but their unchecked technological secrets have allowed them to unveil flying war machines just a month ago.

Tensions and resentment has built within the now divided Koth-Addin clan, as the halfling Koth clan has seen unrivaled agricultural success while the gnomish Addin clan has lost most of its younger generation to factionless cities and territories. The Koth clan seeks to expand their influence and strike out from under the wing of the Kikari Wyrd clan, and other minor Kikari clans have expressed similar ideas.

Disdain among the High Elves against the White and Wood Elves still lingers, but a new alliance of Wood Elves and Froxan has given way to an expansion of swampy woodland north as Wood Elf Ur users have shaped the terrain to support the rapidly growing Froxan population. The Aidean Groundsmen, concerned about the environmental ramifications, have begun pressing the council to impose sanctions among these acts. Rogue environmentalist fanatics have even waged burn campaigns against Froxan villages, stirring further tension between the previously peaceful swamp residents and nearby settlements.

*Anarchist anti-council groups have begun to grow in both faction lands and refugee cities. An anarcho-separatist group of High Elves, dubbed the Wolfheads, have begun guerilla strikes on non-Elvish residents of Roahlun and Roarshok. Pirate groups have spread unchecked among southern cities such as Paska, Pikespear and Vaskos, and some have gone so bold as to attack naval ships rather than merchant vessels.
Reports of ancient beasts and behemoths have popped up all over the continent. Ancient and massive Terranean Empire structures have slowly emerged amongst the coast, guarded by Simulcri or worse. The council has not launched official investigation of these and have forbidden scholars and mercenary groups access for study due to the danger involved.

The Drokkas dwarves face an increasingly hostile desert environment, and have continuously increased requests for aid and trade. Lingering disdain from Rive Mountain and Icepeek clans further build stress against Drokkas’ position amongst the council - pressure has been placed to reduce their power if they continue to rely on external support. Desperate, Lazara Lazareon has reportedly been building up research teams to explore the ancient ruins that dot the desert, despite council sanctions.

Most concerning of all is a heavy rise in cultist activity. Dangerous sects of Chimera-like hybrids have appeared all over, united under the banner of Bathseba - a self-proclaimed goddess of war. The origin of these cult members are still unknown, their primary means of recruitment seems to be kidnapping citizens - but what happens to those taken is shrouded in mystery.

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Stay tuned for the first scenario, Rumours of Dragons, within the next few days.